Making the Most
by Euphoria994
Summary: What can one do when a dragon punishes the young to spite the old? What if you didn't realize that the most dangerous creatures around you were actually your most treasured loved ones? For those that do manage to survive the curse, the best they can do is to make the most of what they have left.
1. Rude Awakening

My child is dead. Those animals killed him right in front of me, and I couldn't save him. I replay what happened over and over in my mind, wondering if there was anything else I could have done to change things. But in the end, it doesn't matter.

My child is dead...and those animals will pay.

I hold back the curse that I'm ready to unleash. Despite my sorrow, my anger, the willingness to for petty revenge, a part of me still considers; do they deserve it?

No. Yes. Maybe. Maybe not.

I consider who it is that will be the greater victim. Would the murderers even be among the ones punished if I do this? What if-no, no sympathy. No pity for the pitiful. Revenge must be dealt, justice will be done. I know it will.

I replay it again in my head...

"Mommy! Help me! I can't move." he cries, struggling against the net.

"I'm coming!" I cry, desperately trying to escape my own damned web. I watch them closing in on him, one of them raising a weapon as innocence itself screams to be recognized. I roar out in agony, just starting to escape and run towards him...before fate ripped him out of my heart.

How could I have been so stupid, as to have brought him to the raid? I should have gone with my instinct, left him with the others. But my pride, my damned pride. Wanting to show him how we lived, what we lived...

...and now my child is dead, and there is no more living to be had. And soon enough, they will suffer the same as I am now. All I need do is will it.

I wonder how long it will take for death to visit them. For fear to rear its monstrous head and claim their innocence as it claimed mine. They won't know what caused it, and I'm sure that forevermore, they will wonder what vile god of theirs could do such a cruel thing. Or perhaps they'll just try to forget it ever happened. I doubt it.

I chuckle. A part of me wishes there was a way I could watch and see what happens, but I haven't been able to bring myself to go back to the place where my child died. I can tell the others have been getting annoyed at my lack of presence in raids, especially the queen, but it doesn't matter. After this...there is nothing for me anymore.

I am ready now. I picture my child's happy expression in my head, knowing that after this, I'll have nothing else to live for.

I'm ready.

...

The front door slammed shut, jolting me out of my sleep. I lay there on my bed confused for a moment, before hearing my dad suddenly cry out.

"CAITRIONA!"

My name reverberating through the house, up the stairs, and into my ears. I cringed, his voice feeling even more grating than usual, but I just huffed and dug myself into my mattress even more, burying myself under my blanket. I reached up to grab my pillow to cover my ears for reinforcement for whatever else he wanted to yell at me, but it didn't appear to be there. It was too dark in my room anyways to bother looking for it, so I just groaned and lay there, still tired and not wanting to deal with anything right now.

I heard heavy footsteps running up the stairs, and I groaned. Seriously? He wanted to argue again, in the middle of the night? I had already made my point clear as day, I didn't see what else could be said.

The footsteps stopped at my door, and I braced for it to slam open and for the yelling to start. But strangely enough, that didn't happen. Instead, I could hear the doorknob slowly open and my dad entered the room quietly, approaching my bed. My heart beat in my chest as I pretended to be asleep. What was he doing coming in all sneakily?

"Caitriona?" he whispered, and I was shocked at how soft his voice was. Considering how our last conversation had went, it was weird to hear him sounding so tender.

"Oh Thor, not you too..." I heard him say, and I felt the blanket covering me getting slowly pulled away.

"Hey!" I cried, surprised at said action...or at least, that's what I tried to say, for all that came out instead was a high pitched bark.

I froze. I felt the blanket get ripped away, and I heard my dad gasp in horror. I looked up at him, finally opening my eyes. He was holding a small candle, the only source of light in the room, and from it I could see his expression, one of fear and disbelief.

"Caitriona..." he breathed. "Is that you?"

"Dad?" I said, but again, all that came out was a harsh squealing bark. I reached a hand up to my throat, wondering if it was sore, but then something sharp poked at my neck. I gasped and pulled myself away, but it was still there. I continued to try and pull away, until I realized what it was.

That sharp thing was a claw...from my own hand. Except it was no longer a hand, but a paw, covered with scales and claws on every digit, of which there were only four. My eyes trailed my new paw down to my arm, which was similiarly covered in scales that reflected the candlelight, glistening a brilliant green. I then tried to move my sight down to my body without moving my head, but something was blocking my sight. I reached down to move it, but stopped when I felt my unfamiliar claws touching it. It was then and there that I realized it was a snout.

MY snout. Like that of an animal.

" _This...this isn't real."_ I thought, heart beginning to race in my chest. I looked down slowly, shaking with trepidation at what I would see next. I saw a pale yellow underbelly, that trailed all the way down to between my legs. Whatever I was, I was also naked. I moved to cover myself instinctively with my feet, not wanting to feel so exposed, but jumped when I saw two clawed lumps move instead.

Hindpaws...I had hindpaws as well.

A cold chill went through my spine, and I felt it go down my entire body. I was naked, exposed to the elements, and I had scales, paws, and claws. It was too much, entirely too much to take in.

"Cait?" I heard my dad ask again, and I jumped hard. In all the discovery of the last few seconds, though truthfully it felt like an hour has passed, I had already completely forgotten that my father was right next to me, witnessing everything. I looked up at him, not wanting to move, and yet, not wanting to stay there either. I just wanted to go back to sleep, wake up from this. This was all a dream, a nightmare. None of this was real. It couldn't be real.

My dad reached a hand towards me slowly, and I flinched back without thinking, causing him to stop. He seemed so much bigger now that I looked at him, and he was already a pretty hefty man. His hand looked big enough to cover my face, and his wide blue eyes stared at me, quivering with what looked like held back tears.

"Caitriona, please tell me that's you." he whispered. The urgency in his voice was agonizing for me to hear. It was the sort of tone I had only heard him use once before...when mom had died.

The memory of my mom, my dad's horrified expression and tone, and the fact that I had woken up as something other than human was all getting to me, assaulting my senses all at once. The whole room felt like it was bigger, and growing by the second. My dad wouldn't take his eyes off me, and I found myself unable to look away from him. I needed to focus on something other than what had happened to me, what I had become.

Inhuman whimpers filled the room, and it took me a moment to realize it was coming from me. I tried to stop, but then I felt the tears welling up, and holding back was making it worse. Despite this, I still tried futilely to stop. I couldn't cry, not here, not now, not in front of dad, not like this.

It didn't work. I cried.

A strong pair of arms suddenly scooped me up and I gasped, not moving as they struggled to find a hold on me. The candle my father was holding was now settled on the table, so it was only reasonable to assume that it was obviously him who had holding me now. Odin, he really was huge. I shook in his hands, still filling the air with whines and whimpers that I still found it hard to believe they were my own. It was already starting to dawn on me what I had turned into. What I discovered next only confirmed my thoughts.

I felt them before I saw them. My dad's hand brushed against my back, and I felt something extend from it. It was a strange feeling, like my shoulders had ripped out of my body but not entirely. My whole body was tense and shaking, causing my "shoulders" to spasm as I continued to cry. I turned my head to look, afraid at what I would find.

It was a pair of wings. MY wings. Wings that belonged to me. And not the kind with feathers either. The kind with soft webbing between the...phalanges? Yeah, that's what they were called I think, and spikes that ran down between my actual shoulders and down to my...oh Odin I had a tail too.

"I'm sorry baby girl." my dad said, and I felt a rush of shame and guilt, despite knowing that it was irrational. I didn't even care that he had called me something that in any other situation, I would have been indignant. This wasn't my fault, this wasn't his fault. What did he have to be sorry for? I curled up, covering my face with my paws, careful to not hurt myself with my claws. I couldn't accept it, I wouldn't! I shouldn't!

"Caitriona." he said cautiously, as though afraid of my reaction. "You're a dragon."

Hearing that from him, my father, the only person in the world who I could turn to for this, brought down what little of an emotional barrier that I had left. I didn't cry anymore, I wailed. I sobbed into his chest, pushing my head into his vest and feeling his hands holding me close. The whimpers and whines were louder than they have ever been, and if I had bothered to pay attention, I would have heard my my father sniffling as well.

"You're not the only one." he whispered, rubbing the back of my head comfortingly. "You're not the only one..."

 **Reviews are welcome and appreciated.**


	2. Past and Present

"Are you sure your dad will be ok with this?" Erick asked me for what felt like the hundredth time. He sat on the edge of his bed, wringing his hands like he always did when he was nervous. I was laying on it behind him, hands behind my head and staring up at the ceiling. My long brown hair was a mess, splayed out over his pillow, but I was still recovering from our...session. "Erick, it's fine." I said. "What dad doesn't know won't hurt him."

"But he kind of does know." Erick said, still wringing his hands. "He's already been giving me looks in the dining hall."

"He looks at everyone like that." I said in an irritated huff, shaking my head and sitting up. "Look, you're gonna have to stop worrying about him so much."

"I'm not worried about myself really." he said, turning to look at me, his cute face still convering his nervousness. If there was one thing about Erick that drew me to him, it was his expressiveness. None of the other boys in the village conveyed their feelings like he did. "Him and my mom get along too well, so I won't be the one in trouble."

I snorted. "So what? Last time we got caught, all he did was growl at me a bit. Nothing he hasn't done before."

"Last time, we were just sitting together in the mead hall." he said, raising an eyebrow. "How do you think he'd react if he figured out about you sneaking into my room at dusk?"

"So...what you're saying is you want me to stop coming?" I asked, trying to look hurt, but inside I was holding back a laugh at his suddenly guilty expression.

"That's...that's not what I said..." he mumbled, rubbing the back of his head and turning away.

I scooted over to him and grabbed his shoulder, pulling him down onto the pillow with me. He smiled and seemed to be calming down a little now.

"Relax, like I said, what he doesn't know won't-"

I was cut off as suddenly the door flew open, making both Erick and I jump. We both quickly turned to look at who had opened it, and my heart sunk as I saw that it was Errol Thornback, local village fisherman...and also my father. He stood there, staring at us laying in bed together, expression completely neutral save for one of his black eyes twitching. Both Erick and I stared back, neither of us daring to move, him out of fear, me out of defiance...ok, maybe a bit of fear.

A woman walked up beside my dad, looking confusedly at him, before laying eyes on us and putting her hands on her hips. "Erick Drakehunter." she said, smirking at us. "You are a little _devil_."

Erick pulled away, blushing hard and trying to avoid eye contact with either of the adults standing there. "Hey mom...and uh, hello Mr. Thornback." he muttered, looking at me with a face that screamed that this was all my fault. I rolled my eyes and sat up, trying to look nonchalant as I redid my hair back into it's usual ponytail.

"Looks like I was right Beatris." my dad finally said, turning to look at Erick's mother. "Told you she'd be here."

Erick's mom sighed. "I kind of suspected it myself, though honestly, his father was the same way. Here's hoping he takes after him in other ways as well." she said, with an amused wink towards her son.

"Mom!" he exclaimed, blushing hard. "Not in front of her..."

My dad turned to face me. "Caitriona, let's go. You and I need to talk." I gave a humph in reply, but otherwise didn't say anything as I approached the door.

"Nice to see you again young lady." Erick's mother said as I walked past. "You're always welcome here, though preferably with my knowing about it."

"Don't count on that." I mumbled under my breath, and I could have sworn I heard my dad say the exact same thing as he followed me out.

The entire walk home, dad was practically breathing down my neck. I could hear him grumbling behind me, but I didn't bother trying to make it out; I would be hearing it when we got home anyways. As we approached the front door to our house, I reached a hand out to whip it open, thinking that perhaps I could run upstairs and ruin any chance for him to confront me.

No such luck. The door was locked.

My dad sighed deeply behind me, and I moved aside, crossing my arms tightly in front of me. He stepped forward with the key, then turned to look at me.

"We're going to talk about this." he said bluntly, in a way that made it clear my desperate plan wouldn't have worked anyway. I shrugged my shoulders in response, trying to appear nonchalant despite my heart beating in my chest.

He opened the door and let me go in first. I refused to make eye contact as I did so, and I heard the door shut behind me. I turned around, arms still crossed and looking down at the floor.

"Sit down at the table." he said, taking off his boots and helmet, revealing matted and sweaty black hair. I turned around with another humph and headed to the table, wondering how I should approach this conversation. He wasn't yelling yet, and from what I could tell, he probably didn't want to. Perhaps I should give him a listen...

He sighed and ran a hand back through his hair, looking more tired than angry now. "Catriona, I don't want you hanging around with that boy..." he began, rubbing the back of his head.

"Why not?!" I blurted out, interrupting him. He looked up at me and narrowed his eyes. So much for listening.

"First off, you will not interrupt me." he practically growled. "Second, I don't need you doing something stupid while you're still young."

"I wasn't being stupid." I replied indignantly. "We were just...look, we didn't do anything." I blushed at that. Talking about this with dad was so much more awkward than it had been with mom.

"You were in his bed with your hair down." my dad said, raising an angry eyebrow at me. "And in any case, you were there without my knowledge, nor his mother's."

"You can ask him, we didn't do anything." I said, looking down at the ground and for a moment picturing Erick and I together, going further than what we had.

My dad rolled his eyes. "Look Cait, I just don't want you to make a mistake when it comes to choosing a suitor. You should really be looking at some of the other men of the village."

"Men?" I chuckled. "Have you seen how some of the other boys carry themselves? All pompous and complete blowhards?"

"They can at least carry an axe." dad said. "Erick, as pleasant as he may be, struggles to even lift one off the rack."

"I'm not gonna marry someone and have their kids just because they can lift an axe." I said defiantly.

Dad sighed. "Yes you will." he muttered coldly.

I gasped and stared at him, watching as he realized what he just said, out loud, to his own daughter.

"Cait..." he said. "I don't mean to be so-"

"I hate you." I breathed, recovering and narrowing my eyes at him.

His eyes widened and he stopped. "W-what?" he asked dumbly.

"I hate you!" I repeated, louder this time.

He stared, and I could tell that my words had stung him deeply, which was more than I expected. We sat there together, neither of us saying a word for the longest time. Then, he slowly stood up, got his boots and helmet on, and opened the door. He turned around as if to say something, and I could have sworn I saw his eyes looking bloodshot, but he just as quickly turned back and left, closing the door behind him.

"Good riddance." I muttered, standing up and heading upstairs to my room. It didn't matter to me all that much that I had hurt my dad emotionally, all I cared about what that I didn't have to hear any more from him. At least right now...

…

I don't remember falling asleep in my dad's arms, so it was a bit of a shock when I woke up and found his concerned eyes staring into mine. He pulled his hand back with a guilty expression, and I realized he had been touching one of the horns of my head.

My heart raced as the emotions from earlier that morning bubbled up again, but I didn't have any more tears to give. There was a dryness in my eyes that told me I had cried myself to sleep, but I hadn't done so for very long. Still, I wondered how long he had been holding me in his arms...he was so warm and comforting...

"Caitriona." he said. Then he paused and peered at me. "You can understand me right?" I gave a quick and short nod, wanting to hear what he had to say.

"Ok, look, I know this is a scary time for you right now, but I just want you to know that I'm still your father." he said. "I love you, and I'll take care of you, no matter if you're a dragon." From how he was saying all of this, it sounded as though he had rehearsed it a few times, propaby while I was sleeping. It didn't matter though, for I could already feel my anxiety beginning to fade a little.

"I don't know if you heard me earlier, but you're not the only one who got changed." he continued. "From what I saw, it looks like every child in the village, from the teens on down, has turned into dragons."

I took this all in passively, giving a simple nod in response. Dad eyed me strangely, as though he had expected me to react differently, but I waved a paw at him to go on.

"I don't know why this happened." he said, frustration evident in every syllable. "All I know is that I was coming back from the mead hall, then I heard Beatris screaming." He paused for a moment. "I don't think I've ever heard her scream like that."

It took me a second to remember who he was talking about. Beatris didn't sound familiar, until I remembered that it was Erick's mom's na-oh Odin Erick!

"I ran to her, and she was outside of her house, hysterical and saying that there was a dragon in her home. A couple of other men and I grouped up and went inside, and that's when we saw it...him."

My eyes widened as I realized where this was going. No...they didn't...

"It had to have been a Night Fury, I'm sure of it." he said. "The scales, the eyes...everything about it just screamed death. I remember the eyes...it looked hostile..." he trailed off, looking at me gulitily.

"Cait, please don't hate me. If I knew then what I know now..." he said, adjusting his arms and putting a hand on my chest. I stared at him, thoughts whirring. What had they done?

"We all attacked." he said, and I could see his eyes glaze over, recalling the scene from memory. "Swords and axes in hand. I remember the cry it gave as it tried to avoid us, but we were relentless. It was a dragon, we were Vikings. We were only doing our jobs." He sighed and looked away from me out the window.

"How could we have known it was Erick?"

My heart stopped. I had already suspected that it was what had happened, but that didn't stop me from feeling every emotion that it was possible to feel then and there. In a way, it was worse. Remorse for Erick. Anger at dad. Sympathy for Erick's mom. Guilt at my own survival.

"It was a mess of a fight." he said. "It was so cramped in the room, the dragon kept knocking things over in it's struggle to get away. I was puzzled as to why it didn't fight back, I think the other's were too, but we were lost in the moment."

I was barely listening at this point, I knew how this story was going to end. They had killed him, the only boy worth a damn thing in this place. Regret filled me...I wish I had said more, done more-

"He got away."

I did a double take. A smidgeon of hope began to grow inside me again.

"I don't think he even knew how he did it looking back now. All I remember is a great flash of blue and suddenly the back wall of the room was gone." dad said, sounding almost in awe of what he was describing. "We all just stood there stunned for a moment, even the dragon...Erick did. At least before he ran off."

I breathed out, not having realized I had been holding my breath as I listened.

"Then we started hearing more screams, and suddenly there were dragons everywhere." he said. "In the village square, in the smithy, in the dining hall, just everywhere all at once." His expression darkened. "I'm sorry to say that some of them weren't as lucky as Erick before we realized what was going on."

My heart sank. I had been one of the lucky ones. Then I looked down at my new paws, and realized I probably wasn't.

"It all happened so fast, there was no way for us to know Cait." dad said, almost pleadingly. "I...I don't want to imagine what would have happened had I been here, and found you like this."

I gripped my dad's arm softly, being careful not to hurt him with my claws. He stared down at me, eyes looking ready to cry, which took me aback. He didn't say anything more, but in his face was everything I needed to know. I couldn't help but feel guilty. I understood we were just Vikings, it's an occupational hazard to be attacked by dragons. But when said dragons were your own children...

"Caitriona..." he said, but a choke interrupted him. His eyes began to look bloodshot, and wrapped his arms tight around me, using the hand closest to my head to stroke my cheek. "...I love you so much."

I looked up at him, my own eyes starting to water. I had already cried for myself. Now I guess it was time to cry for the others, and what could've been...

 **Reviews are welcome and appreciated.**


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